talented American organist and pianist Matthew Cates who is an avid lover and player of classical music - from Chopin and Rachmaninov at the piano, to Messiaen and Durufle at the organ. He has a huge passion for composition and improvisation as well.

Matthew currently studies organ with Dr. Timothy Olsen as a junior organ major in the high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

He won the Second Prize at the 6th Annual UNCSA/Salem College High School Organ Competition, where he performed works of Bach and Litaize.

He also won two superior prizes for piano performance in the 2013 and 2014 ACSI competitions.

Matthew started his piano study at the age of nine with Carly Karns. His passion for music continues and he is very dedicated to playing and performing music from the Baroque to contemporary compositions.
​In this conversation, Matthew shares his insights about the flow in performance, adjusting to tracker action and stories that organ can tell.
​
Enjoy and share your comments below.
​
And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

Today's guest is and Italian organist and harpsichordist ​Maurizio Croci. He holds diplomas in organ and harpsichord studies from the conservatoires of music of Milan and Trent (Italy) and spent four years at the Schola

Cantorum in Basle (Switzerland) on advanced courses in organ and harpsichord under Jean-Claude Zehnder and Andrea Marcon. He also graduated “Summa cum laude” in musicology at Fribourg University in Switzerland under Prof. Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini.

Prize-Winner of the Paul Hofhaimer international competition in Innsbruck (1998), Mr. Croci has concertized throughout Europe, Russia and Japan. He performed J.S. Bach’s complete organ works in Bern to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Several of his concerts were broadcasted by radio and television (RAI, SDR, RNE, RSI, RSR) and he had recorded several CD's devotes to G. Frescobaldi, J.S. Bach, G. F. Kauffmann, G.F. Haendel, D. Scarlatti, A. Soler (Conciertos for two organs with Pieter van Dijk) and the organ music of Southern Germany. Among his most recent recordings, a monograph dedicated to Andrea Gabrieli for RSI Rete Due, works for two organs for National Radio España (live recording with P. van Dijk).

The debut recording with his ensemble Il Pegaso, first modern execution of newly discovered compositions of Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, has been praised by international critics by getting prestigious awards (5 Diapason, 4 Classica, Nomination for International Classical Music Award).

Mr. Croci is currently working as Organ Professor at the HEMU (Haute Ecole de Musique Vaud-Valais-Fribourg) and at the Conservatoire de Fribourg (Switzerland), Harpsichord Professor at the Milano Civica Scuola di Musica, organist at the Basilica of the Holy Trinity in Bern and of the Collège St-Michel in Fribourg.
​In this conversation, we will find out all about Maurizio's organ and harpsichord activities, including most recent CD recording "Bach Mirrored" in which he researched Bach's preludes, fantasias and fugues for organ and harpsichord and found interesting parallels in keys, modes, figures, and textures.

Enjoy and share your comments below.
​
And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

Today's guest is an American composer, concert organist, writer, editor and consultant Carson Cooman (b. 1982) with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms—from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes.

Carson's music has been performed on all six inhabited continents in venues that range from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the basket of a hot air balloon. Cooman’s music appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty complete CDs on the Naxos, Albany, Artek, Gothic, Divine Art, Métier, Diversions, Convivium, Altarus, MSR Classics, Raven, and Zimbel labels.

Cooman’s primary composition studies were with Bernard Rands, Judith Weir, Alan Fletcher, and James Willey. As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 150 new compositions by more than 100 international composers have been written for him, and his organ performances can be heard on a number of CD recordings.

​Cooman is also a writer on musical subjects, producing articles and reviews frequently for a number of international publications. He serves as an active consultant on music business matters to composers and performing organizations, specializing particularly in the area of composer estates and archives.

In this conversation, Carson shares his insights about his love of contemporary music, about his organ compositions, about his initiative to create new works for chamber organs and many other things. This is a particularly inspiring talk.

Enjoy and share your comments below.​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

NEVER MISS A PODCAST. SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW WHAT I'M UP TO:

* indicates required

First Name *

Email Address *

Subscribe:

Author

Vidas Pinkevicius' conversations with internationally renown experts from the organ world - concert and church organists, improvisers, educators, composers, organ builders, musicologists and other people who help shape the future of our profession.

​Do you have a unique skill or knowledge related to the organ art? Pitch me your story to become a guest on Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast.